Batch 24 Pics

Hi all,

Sometimes, no news is good news, and to date that has been the case with batch 24 of the SBG custom Katana - officially due to arrive between the 5th and 15th of July (sorry, a little confusion on the due date on this one - officially it should be the 15th of July but elsewhere I may have accidently mentioned the 5th of July..)

Either way, we are most definitely on or even slightly ahead of schedule, so here are the first pictures direct from the forge of some of the completed batch 24 Katana, many of which are already well on the way to our agent for sorting, inspection and final shipping.

So without any further ramble - have a look and see what you think!

Really quite an eclectic mix, who knows maybe you can see YOUR design in there!

Talk to you all when we have some more news (and you had better believe it when we say that very soon we will have some extremely exciting news), but in the meantime - we are on schedule and on track across the board. :-)

- Paul

Batch 23 Pics

Batch 23 (closed Mar 14) is now almost nearly complete with some swords already arriving with my agent and are now being sorted and inspected. At the forge, its only packing, and finishing up some stragglers - they are now underway with Batch 24 (closed April 5th) and overall, nicely AHEAD of schedule.

Which allowed them a little time to take a few quick shots of some of the finished batch 23 swords as follows:

Email updates are forthcoming, in the meantime - enjoy the eye candy! If you are a batch 23 customer, you might just see yours in here!

Talk again soon.

- Paul

Dont worry if the store looks different today and over the weekend..

Hi guys,

I am too busy doing the actual work to blog about whats been done to date (anyone paying attention may notice it looks, feels and handles a tad more modern (oxymoron - not you, my terminology - heck and me! Who collects swords in 2014?

Well, I have run this store since 2007 - and now we are investing for 2014 and beyond. Check the site in your tablet, ipad, iphone, android, robot or that thing that used to be attached to the keyboard.. (which I have been more or less non stop for the last few days) - so forgive me if things on the outside keep changing in the wee hours.

Unless we switch payment options off in the wee hours US Easter standard time, the system remains secure and running safely 100% of the time..!

Sorry for an unfamiliarity, I think it should be worth bearing with me in short term.

Will update with more info after a bit of a rest. Apologies if any emails directed at me take until Mon evening before I can personally reply - its actually a bit of a messy backlog due to the need to focus o the store so much, but after a break and some tweaking the store over the weeked, I will do my best to focus on amy emails for me that have build up by Monday night at the latest.. (sorry, its worth it I think!)..

- Paul

Beyond the point of no return on orders for batch 24 (and an insane offer!)

This is pretty crazy and to be honest we arent even close to breaking even on these - but we have a limited number of DELUXE MOTHER OF PEARL SAYA available in three styles:

A: Dragon
B: Bamboo
C: Birds

And each saya comes with Real Buffalo fittings as a secondary bonus. And to test the waters, the price is...? What? How much?

Check it out here, and if you would like try try a little taste of luxury at a token price point, well - here is your chance.

Enjoy!

Paul

P.S. Only available on a 28" blade and in the colors provided. No modifications are possible, what you see is what you get (and its pretty easy one the eye!)

One batch closes, another one opens...

Yes, its official - we switched from batch 23 to batch 24 at midnight, so batch 23 is locked and off to the forge and orders for the rest of the month can be placed at a more leisurely pace.

More updates will be posted soon and customers from batch 23 will get their first official email update within the next few days. Was really quite exciting, talk to you all again shortly!

Batch 23 closes Midnight on Tuesday (EST)

Even though we are now batching them all year round, the timing of your order DOES make a difference..

Get it in nice and early in a batch and you can play around, make changes, etc - come in towards the end and the next day its off the forge - so the more you know about what stage we are up to, the clearer the whole thing is - which is good for everyone..!

Oh, and it also shifts the delivery date a bit. For example, if you get your order in before the Tuesday 4th deadline, you will be part of batch 23 and get your sword around the 5th of June. If you order on Wednesday - it will arrive in late July, though you will have plenty of time to make adjustments and tweaks..

So armed with this info you can choose which side of the batch you want to be in! Lock in now for June delivery or take it slow after Wednesday it is your choice..!

Speaking of choice, we have added some last minute additional tsubas and elite sets - quite a few actually. More on this shortly, but for now - time to start wrapping up this current batch!!!

A price drop!!!! ACROSS THE BOARD!

Its not often that a price break follows on the heels of an increase - but this is SBG, by now you should be expecting the unexpected as a matter of course.

So how is this for good news - our agent has relocated operations to the USA, resulting in some significant price breaks for us - which in true SBG tradition we have immediately and retroactively passed on to you!

Anyway, enjoy the new prices - we will be passing on partial refunds to everyone who ordered a custom katana from this most recently opened batch and have them all wrapped up within the next 24 hours, so please bear with us as we spread the good news around and do our bit to help the sword collectors dollar go just that bit further...

The quietest launch?

There has been little fan fare or build up - indeed, it would probably be fair to say that there has been something of a shroud of mystery about exactly when the next batch of the custom katana would be available to order.. (after all, the last official date provided was August last year!)..

But theres been good reason for it - because in the background we have been tinkering away to delivery what we think now is the PERFECT system - and we can now offer you the option to purchase the custom katana at ANY time, all year round!

Thats right - no more mad panic.

No need to rush your purchase, and no way to ever miss out again!

Sounds too good to be true? Well, it certainly has us excited - now people can budget and save sensibly for their design, knowing they can order anytime and behind the scenes your order will become part of a sophisticated Just in time delivery and production system we have developed with the Black Dragon forge over the years - and now set it all up so that we can provide a slow and steady supply of customized Japanese style blades when YOU want them, not when a frantic window of opportunity opens and closes within a few weeks...

So relax - no rush. You can order again - anytime, and over the next few weeks will be will doing a few cosmetic upgrades to the images, etc - but otherwise, the custom Katana 3.0 is not only back, its here to stay...!

A pretty exciting announcement, but no hyperbole necessary - its a quiet launch because we prefer you take your time thinking about your design than rush it. It really is a lot of fun..

- Paul

New SBG Designs

Last post I re-introduced the classic Black Dragon Katana, the flag ship design of the SBG Black Dragon forge. In this post I want to introduce you to several BRAND NEW designs that have hit our shelves - starting with:

THE BLACK DRAGON ELITE

The Black Dragon Elite is the deluxe version of the classic Black Dragon.

The blade is identical to the basic Black Dragon solid bodied blade, with an emphasis on cutting power, but has elite grade copper fittings plated with real gold and silver, a leather wrapped handle done using traditional hishigami triangles for the tightest, most evenly spaced fit and a stunning dragon themed mother of pearl saya completes the upgraded design. Only 16 pcs available.

THE RED BELLY BLACK SNAKES - KO KATANA AND WAKIZASHI SET

NOT sold separately, the Red Belly Black Snakes are a matched pair of snake themed Japanese blades designed to be used one in each hand.

Featuring a crimson red saya, unique mottled habaki and snake themed fittings with a small, hamidashi tsuba - this unique set of two blades make a stunning addition to any Japanese sword enthusiast looking for something a bit different than the usual ho-hum run of the mill. Only 10 sets made.

KAGETORAKEN KATANA

The Kagetoraken Katana has been designed for its structural integrity, using solid iron fittings and with a black rattan wrapped saya for additional reinforcement to reduce the possibility of saya splitting during iai draw cut practices.

Named after the black iron tsuba, featuring the classic "Torakami" tiger design that inspires its name (Kagetoraken means Shadow Tiger Katana) the sword is completed with an engraving of its name in Japanese on one side of the blade, adding just a touch of class and a dash of interest to the naked, differentially hardened T10 tool steel blade. 32 pcs available, 16 with bo-hi and 16 solid bodied.

THE HOBGOBLIN KOGARASU NAGAMAKI NINJATO

                                                                                                                         
Last but certainly not least comes a unique sword designed to be the ultimate Ninja sword - the Hobgoblin Kogarasu Nagamaki Ninjato is one of the most versatile and visually interesting swords we have had the pleasure of bringing to the table.

With a Ko Katana blade and extra long 14" Nagamaki handle, this unique sword handles like a short hafted glaive by default but by adjusting the hand position where it is held, it can be wielded in a variety of ways and is especially suitable to indoor applications where longer blades are simply too unwieldy.

With stunning black leather wrap using hishigami, a wicked Kogarasu "crows beak" double edged tip for reverse cutting and top quality gold and silver plated solid copper Hobgoblin themed fittings, this rare style of sword is a must have for any collector of Ninja swords, but get in quick, only 10pcs have been made!

CHECK OUT ALL THE DESIGNS ON ONE PAGE HERE

WHAT'S NEXT?

The new designs above are not the only exciting developments at the SBG Black Dragon Forge...

True enough, we aren't hiding any more new designs up our sleeve. But rather, for everyone who has been waiting on some news on the custom katana since August/September last year - stay tuned for a very exciting announcement!!

Talk to you all again soon!

- Paul

Update and introduction to the Black Dragon Forge

Hi everyone,

Looks like an update is WELL overdue - but with some major product releases and a revolutionary and VERY exciting change just about to occur, I will try to compress 9 months worth of updates into a couple of paragraphs and some pics!

Naturally batch 22 was made, the swords came in - and they were, as we expected, quite lovely.

Unfortunately, batch 23 - which was originally scheduled to open in August/September was put on hold in preparation for phase II of a planned, site wide upgrade and expansion - and so naturally people have been wanting to know when WILL the next batch open, especially as batch 22 met and exceeded our expectations, guaranteeing the future of the project for the foreseeable future.

The answer, in another post - this blog is about to get VERY busy...

ABOUT THE "Black Dragon Forge"

Since 2008 SBG, our Canadian Agent and a micro forge in China who specialized in high end and top quality blades have collaborated together to produce the custom katana that we all know and love and who the blog is all about in the first place.

But at a certain point in our history, we decided to get some stock made of a design combination whose basic theme appeared more than once in EVERY batch, the so called Black Dragon design - and the Black Dragon Katana became the first in a series of swords that were later to be known as the SBG designs series.

Here is the Katana in question:

And now, as we are about to release even more designs to this line and need a better brand identity than "those guys who make the custom katana" a proper name was needed, and the Black Dragon Forge was born - and the blog updated with the new look accordingly...

 

Click here to see the new layout and product listings in the store

STAY TUNED

As I hinted at earlier in this post, this blog is about to get BUSY. Indeed, I am sitting on a huge amount of news that I need to get out to you guys but will break it down into more easily digestible posts - so stay tuned, some major and exciting developments and announcements are imminent!!!

- Paul